Abilene Quotes & Sayings

I thought you'd snap out of it. I thought, with a little time, you'd lighten up and see how it didn't matter! — Richie Tankersley Cusick

Drones ply the liminal space between the physical and the digital - pilots fly them, but aren't in them. They are versatile and fascinating objects - the things they can do range from the mundane (aerial photography) to the spectacular - killing people, for example. — John Battelle

There is a distinction between a relationship which has a routine and a relationship which becomes routine — Johnny Rich

The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Speeches are for the younger men who are going places. And I'm not going anyplace except six feet under the floor of that little chapel adjoining the museum and library at Abilene. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

But what I was going to say was, I just figured I'm going to go boldly in the direction of my dreams, say it as Thoreau would say, and just see where it takes me. — Demetri Martin

I have already been loved," said Edward. "I have been loved by a girl named Abilene. I have been loved by a fisherman and his wife and a hobo and his dog. I have been loved by a boy who played the harmonica and by a girl who died. Don't talk to me about love," he said. "I have known love. — Kate DiCamillo

There is a maddening phenomenon of social dynamics variously called pluralistic ignorance, the spiral of silence, and the Abilene paradox, after an anecdote in which a Texan family takes an unpleasant trip to Abilene one hot afternoon because each member thinks the others want to go.274 People may endorse a practice or opinion they deplore because they mistakenly think that everyone else favors it. — Steven Pinker

But I think her feelings about our mother were a heavy burden in her life, at least when they were together. When our mother was far away, maybe she could forget her. Our mother was always stepping on her to get up higher, always needing to be right, always needing to be better than her, and than all of us, most of the time. The terrible innocence of our mother, too, as she did that. She had no idea, most of the time. — Lydia Davis

During the night, while Bull and Lucy slept, Edward, with ever-open eyes, stared up at the constellations. He said their names, and then he said the names of the people who loved him. He started with Abilene, and then went on to Nellie and Lawrence and from there to Bull and Lucy, and then he ended again with Abilene: Abilene, Nellie, Lawrence, Bull, Lucy, Abilene.
See? Edward told Pellegrina. I am not like the princess. I know about love. — Kate DiCamillo

I certainly want campaign finance reform. I just wish this would do it in a way that would stand up to a constitutional challenge. — Ben Nelson

And Edward was surprised to discover that he was listening. Before, when Abilene had talked to him, everything had seemed so boring, so pointless. But now, the stories Nellie told struck him as the most important thing in the world and he listened as if his life depended on what she said. (page 69) — Kate DiCamillo

Abilene possessed greater vision, perhaps because it possessed little else. — H.W. Brands

We are divided of course between liking to feel the past strange and liking to feel it familiar. — Henry James

Once there was a princess who was very beautiful. She shone bright as the stars on a moonless night. But what difference did it make that she was beautiful? None. No difference."
Why did it make no difference?" asked Abilene.
Because," said Pellegrina, "She was a princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love, even though there were many who loved her. — Kate DiCamillo

Divorce has taught us how to sleep with friends, sleep with enemies, and then act like it's all perfectly normal in the morning. — Elizabeth Wurtzel

I starred in a Broadway play that was Sidney Poitier's first directing job and the cast was Lou Gossett, Cicely Tyson, Diana Ladd and I played a Jewish kid who offered himself as a slave to two Columbia University students as reparations. — David Steinberg

The rabbit felt dizzy. He wondered for a minute, if his head had cracked open again, if he was dreaming.
"Look, Mama," said Maggie, "look at him."
"I see him," said the woman.
She dropped the umbrella. She put her hand on the locket that hung around her neck. And Edward saw then that it was not a locket at all.
It was a watch. It was his watch.
"Edward?" said Abilene.
Yes, said Edward.
"Edward," she said again, certain this time.
Yes, said Edward, yes, yes, yes.
It's me. — Kate DiCamillo

Whenever you're in an army group and somebody says, 'I think we're all getting on the bus to Abilene here,' that is a red flag. — Susan Cain

Abilene (AB-a-lene) adj. Descriptive of the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow. — Douglas Adams

Life - give me life until the end,
That at the very top of being,
The battle-spirit shouting in my blood,
Out of the reddest hell of the fight
I may be snatched and flung
Into the everlasting lull,
The immortal, incommunicable dream. — William Ernest Henley

Abilene had gone from boomtown to Bible Belt, from whorehouses to schoolmarms, without any of the intervening phases. — David Brooks

It happened in New York, April 10th, nineteen years ago. Even my hand balks at the date. I had to push to write it down, just to keep the pen moving on the paper. It used to be a perfectly ordinary day, but now it sticks up on the calendar like a rusty nail. — Donna Tartt

Never in his life had Edward been cradled like a baby. Abilene had not done it. Nor had Nellie. And most certainly, Bull had not. It was a singular sensation to be held so gently and yet so fiercely, to be stared down at with so much love. Edward felt the whole of his china body flood with warmth. (page 128) — Kate DiCamillo

In order that a people may be free, it is necessary that the governed be sages, and those who govern, gods. — Napoleon Bonaparte